Tonight we need to take a break from our regularly scheduled “lineup tinkering” to return to Celtics basketball. The Suns have started to figure out how to play with Shaq (a little extra effort from Shaq also helps)… and I think they’re a very legitimate contender to be playing back here in June.
So while I’m perfectly fine with Sam trying to find his way in this offense… or Doc trying figure out exactly how many minutes Sam should get…. tonight’s the night to send Phoenix the message that you can’t count on wins in Boston come finals time. There’s also the little matter of the Celtics embarrassing performance on national TV in Phoenix a month ago. That was crap.
As for Sam… he’s trying to adjust. And not only is he adjusting… he says he’s actually going to play defense… which Doc appreciates
“Look, Sam wants to win. That’s the bottom line. And when guys want to win, they’ll let go of some of those old habits to try to win. That’s where Sam is at right now. Plus, he also knows he’s not going to play 40 minutes a night, so the minutes he does play, he can use to apply on the defensive end.”
Does anyone else feel like you can replace “Sam” with “Paul Pierce” in the first half of that quote and it could apply to the awesome season Paul is having right now?
Herald: C’s set for rising Suns | Globe: Shaq finds his place with Suns | Camerato: Cassell’s last chance | Enterprise news: Celtics look to get back to winning ways | ESPN: Jon Barry likes the Celtics to win it all | East Valley Tribune: Suns look to continue master of Celtics | Webber to retire
And regular readers know that while Chuck and I are blog-partners… we overtly despise each other. Chuck hates me becasue he’s jealous of my looks, wealth, and the standing ovations I get when I bust out an aria from Aida. Face it… you can’t compete with that. I, however, hate Chuck because he’s an evil man… who does things like this
I don’t follow. A win is a win. This game isn’t worth 1.5 in the standings. If anything, we should see how our bench performs against a great team. I want Sam, PJ, Davis, Powe and Scal to play the entire fourth quarter.
I don’t get you sometimes. 3 posts ago, you agreed with me when I said cut starter minutes and lets toy with the bench play a little.. even knowing that it might mean a loss or two.
Then the second you get a chance…. you bash Doc for doing it. What are you doing… trying out for WEEI or something… or running for office?
Mitt Romney would be proud
I want this win tonight. I know the CELTICS want this win tonight. If they can win tonight and Friday, they will have defeated every team in the NBA this season. That’s a hell of a statement. They should be fired-up, too. Phoenix embarrassed them on national television, and the Hornets stole the game in New Orleans last week by totally outplaying them in the 4th quarter. These are the last two meaningfull games of the year. After Friday, it’s Cupcake City. So let’s crank the Freak Switch to 11 and GET IT ON!
I find it troubling that I’m agreeing more with Chuck as of late.
Tonight and Friday are the best two games left on the schedule. Hopefully Posey will be back tonight… any word on that?
Not yet. Doc’s easing up on the pregame shootarounds… which is where that stuff usually comes out. We’ll have to wait and see
Rest the starters and experiment with the bench – but not late in the 4th quarter!!!! How difficult is that to understand.
As Herm Edwards once said, “You play to win the games.”
You know… sometimes you have to figure out what the team is capable of. You don’t think that if that was any other game Doc would have had his starters in 3 or 4 minutes earlier?
Tell you what… ask the Spurs about “playing to win the game” and then come back to me. The Spurs have won multiple championships… and part of their strategy has been to coast a little to keep guys like Tim Duncan fresh.
We’ve got a chance to rest our starters in most of these game… and give the second unit to get some good time together (yes… even in crunch time… maybe even *gasp* at the end of a game!) Who gives a shit if we beat Philly? Even if we go .500 the rest of the way we’ll be the #1 seed.
Whoa, if you were wearing that Celtics jersey, John, would you still feel that way about losing? Just wonderin’…
As a player…. no…. I fucking hated to lose.
But as an outside observer… you get to look beyond the wins and losses and see the greater good.
And beyond all of this… there is still the point that the starters were in the lineup when it was tied. You mean to tell me our starters did everything they could in the last 5 and a half minutes to win that game?
That’s all I was saying from the beginning.
Hells no. I *cough, cough* agree with you there. And I certainly want to see the bench get time and work together. But when it’s really crunch time give it back to the starters b/c they still need to keep up the hard play in prep for the playoffs.
I’d like to see the starters go the first 8min, start the 2nd half and go about 6-8min and then let them sit the rest of the way or throw them back in at 5 or 6 min to go in the 4th (or not in the 4th if the bench is clicking). Now is the time to experiment as long as our top seeding (home court)isn’t in danger.
The bench on Monday was lost because Posey wasn’t there.